In 2021 when my husband and I moved from Central North Carolina to Central Arkansas, I donated hundreds of books. These were paperbacks and hardbacks I'd been collecting for YEARS! All gone because we were moving into a small house that wouldn't accommodate the two dozen boxes of books I had.
I made a promise to myself then that I wouldn't collect books anymore. I would buy them, read them, and sell or donate 95% of them. After all, I was still taking almost a dozen boxes of books with me.
Flash forward to 2025 when we purchased our first home and were packing our rental. Once more, I was looking at two dozen boxes of books. Instead of donating a ton of them, I decided I would (at some point) start reading them.
That point has come quickly, friends. With the rising costs of books, the decision as to when I would begin reading them has been made. With paperbacks ranging from $18 - $22, and hardbacks bumping up to $30, I have realized my days of book buying are over. Unless it's secondhand or from a bargain store like Dollar Tree or Ollie's, that is.
What better reason to start reading down my TBR!?
So, this year I'll be concentrating on my endless stacks and utilizing my library even more for those 2026 "must read" publications.
I'll be getting back to my reviews, but wanted to give fair warning that there will be some blasts from the past.
A friend reminded me the other day that many books never really die. They're always on someone's shelf just waiting to be discovered. I'm looking forward to see what can be discovered this year!
Happy reading!
Total transparency: this is not a great book. The story is shallow, there's no character development, the use of ly-adverbs is overwhelming, and I couldn't care about anyone (even Eve) because there was very little story inside this book.
That being said, it is a tremendous achievement for someone who had major brain surgery to remove a malignant tumor only a year before. This book isn't just another example that publishers will sell anything from their big-name authors just to make a buck. It is a testament to the extreme effort Sophie Kinsella has put into piecing her life back together since having a glioblastoma tumor removed from her brain in 2022. Much like her main character, Eve, Sophie had to learn how to do everything again, even write.
So, I've decided not to rate this book. Because, as far as the story goes, it would get a low rating from me. But Sophie Kinsella's story gets five stars. I wish the author all the best and hope she continues to flourish despite the incurable cancer she's living with.
The title of this book is misleading. There are many secrets in this little community, a fact that would've made this story a fave (I love gossip), but the execution took away from the impact.
This story had a lot of promise. It centers (kind of) around a neighborhood book club. All the women are vastly different in personality and we get glimpses of those outside the main three POVs through the book club scenes. There are even monthly emails from the book club organizer and leader talking about the books they'll be discussing. So, immediately I'm digging this setup. Unfortunately, there were a few things I couldn't look past, thus my rating.
Lena lives in the big house on the hill overlooking Cottonwood. Fifteen years ago a tragedy made her pull away from her friends and community. She has a secret, something she feels she needs to pay penance for. Add to that the strained relationship she has with her daughter and you've got a nice little mystery.
Annie is drawn to Lena's house, but she's never knocked on her neighbor's door until the day she walks by and sees the neighborhood vandal (who is on the peripheral throughout the book) has painted a comical...phallic symbol on Lena's mailbox. She wonders if Lena will remember her. After all, she used to be on the swim team with Lena's only child, and she was at the party thrown by Lena on that fateful night fifteen years before. Though Lena doesn't remember Annie, the two become fast friends despite the secrets lingering between the two of them.
Jen is the mother of Abe, a seventh grader diagnosed with "conduct disorder". Once a career-focused woman, she now dedicates all of her time caring for and observing Abe. She's sure the doctors are wrong about his diagnosis. Abe is just shy and sometimes has outbursts of anger, but he's no sociopath. She begins to question everything her heart tells her, though, when Abe is kicked out of his most recent school for stabbing another student in the hand with an exacto knife. Jen is trying to be a good mother while also trying to reclaim her life as a research scientist, while also trying to appear like a well-rounded person in her neighborhood book club, but something has got to give. When Jen enrolls Abe at the Kingdom School and Abe becomes fast friends with a graduate student teacher, she finally thinks things are going to get better. But when Abe and his new friend (Annie's daughter Laurel) have a falling out, the new lighter life Jen is just getting used to begins to crumble, and she begins to believe the doctors may have been right all along.
Three women with three pretty hefty secrets should've made for a super fast and entertaining read. While I didn't dislike the book, there were a few things that factored into my rating of three stars.
1) It should've been a dual POV. Jen's POV didn't add anything to the narrative, and Lena and Annie's stories were much more interesting than Jen's.
2) There was head hopping. In a limited perspective, I don't expect to jump into anyone else's mind outside of the known POVs. This happened at least twice in this story.
3) There is a minor fourth perspective throughout. Quick little snippets that are usually at the end of the chapter before the book club emails. We don't know the identity of this fourth perspective until the end. I didn't care for it. Those little snippets were more confusing to me than anything.
4) No one really grows as a character. Yes, things happen to them and the events change who they surround themselves with, but they're the same people.
The mystery between Lena and Annie is what kept me reading. It's interesting how everything fits together in the end. I wasn't wholly satisfied, but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading the book.
I would recommend this one to readers who enjoy a lighter, neighborhood-type mystery. There are a lot of personalities in this book and it had me second-guessing myself a few times. The book club format was also a super fun element.
Content warning: Adultery, mental illness, and inappropriate relationships with minors.
